Monday, February 22, 2010

Pakistan, Split of Muslim League (contd-1)

The year 1926 saw bitter communal riots in various parts of India, most of these riots took place in towns and cities where the Muslims were in a minority and therefore they suffered much more than the Hindus. It is reported that there were 40 riots between April 1926 to 1927 which resulted in 197 deaths and 1598 injured.These communal riots in 1926 culminated in the murder of Swami Shradhananda Saraswati in his residence on 23rd Dec 1926, at the hand of a Muslim in Delhi who had been caught red handed. This led to another round of communal disturbances. The gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that Muhammad Yaqub (1879-1942)wrote a long letter to secretary AIML stating:

....All India Muslim League is responsible for the protection and promotion of their political rights and interests.It is not fear to keep them in darkness.Let us tell them that the league has ceased to exercise its function so that they may organize and form another political body if they choose to do so.

At the same time the All India Hindu Mahasabha (f.1906) opposed the separate electorates and condemned the Lucknow Pact of 1916.This was the communal situation in India when party meetings of Assembly members at Delhi were held on 17 March 1927, to exchange views on the direction in which modification of the system of communal representation was desirable.The Hindu members of the Assembly decided in favour of joint electorates with reservation of seats to Muslims either on the basis of Lucknow Pact or the Muslim population in each province. Many Muslim leaders like Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari (1880-1936), Abul Kalam Azad and Ali Imam(1869-1932) were willing to give up separate electorates.